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Doctor Who: The Sirens of Time – looking back at the first ever Big Finish audio

By James Aggas

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Today, Big Finish are hugely successful with their many Doctor Who audios and spin-offs. But how did it all begin? We look back on the very first Doctor Who audio they made, The Sirens of Time.

The Sirens of Time was definitely a major release back in July 1999. Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy all reprising their roles in the same story. It wasn’t on television, but it was the closest thing we had to brand new Doctor Who, especially with the original actors involved.

But even for a multi-Doctor story, I don’t think anyone could have known just how important The Sirens of Time was going to be, in retrospect.

Regardless, beginning your brand new range of Doctor Who audios with a multi-Doctor story is certainly ambitious and risky. After all, multi-Doctor stories are far from guaranteed to be actually good.

But at the same time, they are guaranteed to draw a crowd. With Big Finish not able to use the Eighth Doctor at this point, a multi-Doctor story was certainly the best way of drawing in a good portion of the Doctor Who fanbase.

Was it a risk that paid off? How strong is The Sirens of Time as a story? Let’s find out.

A different kind of multi-Doctor tale

One way The Sirens of Time stands out as a multi-Doctor story is how it’s structured. Like most Big Finish releases, it uses the serial structure of the Classic Series, and it uses it rather well.

This is because it’s not a multi-Doctor story for all four episodes. Instead, the story begins with the Seventh Doctor investigating a distress call; part two focuses on the Fifth Doctor in World War One, while part three has the Sixth Doctor trapped on a starcruiser. It’s only in part four that all three incarnations meet.

Considering that the TV series had already had three multi-Doctor stories at this point, it’s actually surprising that it never used the serial structure in the way that writer Nicholas Briggs did with Sirens. Especially as it’s such a simple idea.

Does it work? Just about. Telling a mini-story with each episode has been done before at least, most notably in First Doctor story The Keys of Marinus. The problem is that that half an hour is a very short time to tell a story, even one that’s part of a bigger whole. And Briggs features a lot of variation with these episodes.

Variations in story and genre

As a result, there are definitely some episodes that appeal more than others. While the Seventh and Sixth Doctor episodes are enjoyable, the Fifth’s adventure in the First World War is definitely my favorite.

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There’s a strong element of mystery, and the fact that he’s on board a German U-Boat presents a nice amount of tension. Particularly as the Germans are presented as far from unsympathetic, and come across as three-dimensional characters.

As for the final episode, hearing the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors work together is definitely fun. Briggs not only does a good job of highlighting the major differences between them, but also (of course) the similarities, too. It’s not quite as effective as what he achieved in the fiftieth anniversary special The Light at the End, but it’s still fun.

Overall, The Sirens of Time is far from Big Finish’s best story, but it’s also far from its worst. Its an ambitious opening story that lead to much bigger things, and gave the Doctor Who audios a decent start. Not an absolute classic, but an important and enjoyable listen, at least.

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Have you listened to The Sirens of Time? Are you a fan of multi-Doctor stories? Do you think it was the right way for Big Finish to begin their long run of Doctor Who audios? Let us know in the comments below.

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